On Oct. 4, the school will welcome some new faces to the campus.

As part of the German American Partnership Program, in which the school has participated for almost a decade, 16 students from Germany and two of their teachers will shadow Cathedral students and stay in the Indianapolis area for a couple of weeks. Cathedral’s German partner school is known as the Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium, located in a suburb of Cologne.

Cathedral’s GAPP involvement is sponsored by the German Foreign Ministry, as well as the United States Department of State. Through this program, American and German students spend time in the foreign country and are immersed in the different lifestyles and culture. Cathedral students will visit Germany through the program in June.

German exchange student Tim de Boer, who has been at Cathedral for the past two school years, explained that he is enthusiastic for the exchange students to arrive.

“I am very excited for them because I know how they feel. I was nervous when I realized there was only a couple days left until I would see a totally different environment. However, I did fine. I hope the Germans will also start loving Cathedral, but mostly the students as much as I do,” said de Boer.

Mr. Joshua Payne-Elliott helps oversee the program. Payne-Elliott wrote in an email, “The (German) students will be living with host families and shadowing their partner student throughout the day, as well as attending field trips in the Indianapolis area.”

Students will welcome these German students into their classes. The German students will be present in classes on Oct. 4, 5, 9, 11 and 15.